1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of oilfield drilling equipment and in particular to an apparatus and method for remotely sealing and latching a rotating control device with a riser.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional offshore drilling techniques focus upon a decades-old technique that was hydraulic pressure generated by a preselected fluid inside the wellbore to control pressures in a formation being drilled. However, a majority of known resources, gas hydrates excluded, are considered economically undrillable with conventional techniques.
Pore pressure depletion, the need to drill in deeper water, and increasing drilling costs indicate that the amount of known resources considered economically undrillable will continue to increase. Newer techniques, such as underbalanced drilling and managed pressure drilling have been used to control pressure in the wellbore. However, these techniques present a need for pressure management devices such as rotating control devices and diverters.
Rotating control devices have been used in conventional offshore drilling. A rotating control device is a drill-through device with a rotating seal that contacts and seals against the drillstring (drill pipe, casing, Kelly, etc.) for the purposes of controlling the pressure or fluid flow to the surface. However, rig operators typically bolt conventional rotating control devices to a riser below the rotary table of a drilling rig. Such a fixed connection has presented health, safety, and environmental (HSE) problems for drilling operators because retrieving the rotating control device has required unbolting the rotating control device from the riser, requiring personnel to go below the rotary table of the rig in the moon pool to disconnect the rotating control device. In addition to the HSE concerns, the retrieval procedure is complex and time consuming, decreasing operational efficiency of the rig. Furthermore, space in the area above the riser typically limits the drilling rig operator's ability to install equipment on top of the riser.